FAIRFIELD -- After watching his team flatly compete through three innings against its staunchest rival, Fairfield Ludlowe softball coach Tony Samuelian was uncharacteristically upset.

"We gave them a verbal lashing," Samuelian said. "I told them, I like to smile and have fun, but right now I'm not happy."

Evidently the Falcons got the message.

Ludlowe scored seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings, rolling to a 7-0 win over Fairfield Warde on Wednesday afternoon at Warde.

Brenna Martini scored two runs and drove in three with a fifth-inning triple, helping the Falcons improve to 10-3.

Ludlowe did not commit an error behind pitcher Aliza Guerrero, and the senior scattered five hits in seven innings.

"We executed both offensively and defensively," Guerrero said. "No errors, clean, which will get us far in future games." Freshman pitcher Gabriella Natoli allowed five earned runs in seven innings. Natoli led the Mustangs with two hits, as Warde fell to 5-8.

"We were right with them, inning by inning, through the middle of the game," Warde coach Gary Quiricone said. "We hit the ball hard, I was pleased with the way we hit the ball, but we couldn't string hits together consistently."

Natoli pitched into and out of trouble the first three innings, getting help from both second baseman Kenzie Burns and the Falcons' shoddy baserunning. Burns made hit-robbing lunging catches in back-to-back innings, keeping the game scoreless.

"I give Warde a lot of credit," Samuelian said. "They put a little scare into us, and ... we were playing a little tentative more so than we should with a veteran team."

The Falcons were 0 for their first 4 with runners in scoring position and lost five runners on the basepaths -- three in the first four innings.

"I'm trying to teach them to be as aggressive as possible," Samuelian said. "And they take me literally. Now I have to rein them in."

But with two outs and two on in the fourth, Katie DeCarlo blooped a single in front of Warde left fielder Liz O'Reilly that scored both Martini and Nicky Tygsen and put Ludlowe up 2-0.

"They were playing deep," Samuelian said of Warde's outfield. "It was big."

The Falcons broke it open in the fifth, batting around and plating five. Two of Ludlowe's first three reached, and Emily Nelson's RBI single scored Colleen Lambert, making it 3-0.

After Guerrero walked, Martini socked a line drive over right fielder Julia Palmieri's head for a bases-clearing, ground-rule triple, boosting the Falcons' edge to 6-0.

"I was just trying to put it in play," Martini said. "I knew what (Natoli) was throwing, so I waited for a pitch that I liked and she gave me one.